Empower and Delterra Collaborate to Improve Waste Management in Buenos Aires
Empower recently travelled to Argentina to meet with key partners Delterra and GS1 in a project to digitize the recycled plastic material flows in Argentina. Delterra, a global environmental NGO founded by McKinsey & Company, is implementing the Material Traceability program and chose to partner with Empower as Technical Solutions Provider and GS1 as Information Standards Setter.
The partners have set out an ambitious goal for the project — to trace more than 50% of all post-consumer recycled plastics in Argentina by December 2023. Making it a globally unique project.
Throughout the week, the partners met in Buenos Aires to gain a deeper understanding of how waste management infrastructure is currently implemented on the ground. This knowledge is crucial in developing digital tools to seamlessly create more circular processes.
As a technology partner, Empower is bringing its expertise in digital tools, traceability and transparency to the project which is now being implemented. Delterra and Empower are also working with all stakeholders in the value chain to ensure that local markets can absorb the supply of recycled materials at fair prices.
This partnership is a significant step in addressing the issue of low recycling rates and capacity issues at landfills in Argentina and promoting a transition to a circular economy in the region. The project also aims to build on the region’s success in social inclusion and embed recycling into municipal waste programs for holistic waste solutions at scale.
“This partnership can become a game-changer for waste management in Argentina,” said Wilhelm, CEO of Empower. “We’re excited to be a part of this initiative and look forward to working with Delterra to build a sustainable local system that also can be scaled up globally.”
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Delterra and GS1 to revolutionize waste management in Buenos Aires,” said Erlend, Commercial Director at Empower. “This is an important step in addressing global challenges, and it all starts at the local level.”
During the last 6 months, some of the largest sorting centers and recyclers in Buenos Aires have been onboarded to the Empower platform. Empower have been working closely with GS1 to implement their standards into the Empower platform. The next steps for the project include onboarding of more organizations and continuously iterating and improving the solution to satisfy the needs of the stakeholders tracking materials as well as the brands who are the end users. Both local manufacturers and global brands are onboarded to the platform with the goal of making Product Passports (link) with QR-codes on their products, showing the full journey of the materials.
About Delterra: Delterra, a global environmental NGO founded by McKinsey & Company, is on a mission to solve the world’s most complex systemic environmental challenges. Delterra is implementing the Material Traceability program and chose to partner with Empower as Technical Solutions Provider and GS1 as Information Standards Setter.
About Empower
EMPOWER, a Norwegian circular platform company uses digitization, cloud data, and blockchain technology to store and facilitate seamless sharing of information about plastic waste and map waste flows to ensure that the plastic ends up where it has the highest value and the lowest cost to society. Empower’s mission is to ensure that all materials have value and can be tracked from production to new resources and back into new sustainable products again, with a vision to close the tap on plastic waste and recreate a world without waste.
For more information contact: hi@empower.eco
